Spam Flood Blog: Interesting Stuff

Friday, July 13, 2007

Interesting Stuff

7/13/2007 4:02:00 PM

Filed under: Peripherals, Portable Audio, Portable Video

JVC has announced a new pair of Bose-humiliating, noise-canceling headphones to its lineup: the HA-NC250. Clocking in at $199.95, these 5.3-ounce, flat-folding earpieces utilize adaptive feedback technology which constantly monitors the noise cancellation process, resulting in a nearly 85 percent reduction of background noise -- or at least that's what JVC claims. The headphones feature 40mm neodymium drivers, and come bundled with a carrying case, detachable cord, and an assortment of adapters for all your plugging needs. Of course, you'll have to provide your own AAA battery.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/13/jvcs-ha-nc250-noise-canceling-headphones/#comments

7/13/2007 3:33:00 PM

Filed under: Cellphones

It's a bird, it's a plane, no, its just Japan's NTT DoCoMo blowing the rest of the world away with yet more steroid-loaded 3G action, or Super 3G in this case. Blending advanced HSDPA and HSUPA technologies, Super 3G is touted as having downlink speeds as quick as 300Mbps -- a fair bit quicker than earlier reports -- to your handset. The indoor tests will begin with only one transmitting and receiving antenna, but switch up to the four Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antenna system that would be used if deployed. Test are expected to wrap up in 2009, so in the interim we'll all just sit back and cry a little knowing we'll never see this type of tech on these shores.

[Via Unwired View]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/13/ntt-docomo-tests-speedy-super-3g/#comments

7/13/2007 3:02:00 PM

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

If you ever question whether or not technology is enriching our lives or contributing to the greater good, you need only glance in the direction of modern medicine to get your answer. Take Peng Shulin, a man from China who had the lower half of his body severed in a tragic accident -- for years he has been bedridden, but recently doctors have engineered an ingenious device that is allowing him to walk again. While there isn't a lot of information about the technology, it appears that Mr. Shulin's body is placed into an egg cup-like casing which is connected to two "bionic legs", and through the use of a downsized walking frame he is able to gain locomotion and move freely. Doctors report that Peng is -- unsurprisingly -- "delighted" with the device.

[Via Medgadget]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/13/bionic-limbs-enable-legless-man-to-walk-again/#comments

7/13/2007 2:29:00 PM

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio

It's been two years since Sony BMG got hit with a number of class action lawsuits for shipping CDs that stealthily installed malware DRM on Windows machines without user permission, and it looks like the company is trying to get back the $5.75M it lost replacing affected discs by suing Amergence, the developer of MediaMax, one of the two DRM systems Sony was using at the time. MediaMax is unrelated to XCP, the infamous "rootkit" DRM at the center of the controversy, but it also installed itself on a user's machine without permission and opened a major security hole, leading Sony to recall both XCP and MediaMax-protected CDs. For its part, Amergence (which used to be called SunnComm) claims that XCP was the real problem and that Sony BMG's demand for final authority over MediaMax's functional specifications insulate it from any liability -- arguments that don't seem like they'll cause any consternation for Sony's legal team.

DIsclaimer: Although the author of this post is an attorney, it is not legal advice or analysis and should not be construed as such.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/13/sony-bmg-suing-creators-of-mediamax-drm-for-12m/#comments

7/13/2007 2:01:00 PM

Filed under: Gaming

While we were only able to check out Wii Fit and the Wii Balance Board from a distance, our pals at Joystiq found some time to kick off their shoes and see just how much of a workout the game/device combo provides. As far as the peripheral goes, Joystiq found the Balance Board to be "a lot lighter and sturdier" than they had anticipated, and they feel that it should hold up to a lot of force. It also apparently proved to be quite responsive during the three demos they were able to try, which also provided ample opportunity for them to embarrass themselves in front of a crowd. They were slightly less impressed with the Wii Fit game itself though, finding it appealing in a Brain Age sort of way but somewhat lacking as an actual game.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/13/joystiq-tries-out-wii-fit-and-wii-balance-board/#comments

7/13/2007 1:31:00 PM

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Denon isn't typically known for throwing out any futuristic pieces of AV luxury, rather, it tends to side with the more traditional, classy look. Of course, there's always a first time for everything, and while we're highly doubtful that this supposed Denon rendering will actually come to fruition, it certainly is a sight to behold. The two-piece kit consists of a rumored DVD-HD8910 Blu-ray player up top, with a 2TB AVR-HD8910 media center / receiver below. The 7.1-channel box also claims to handle iTunes music files and offer a direct connection to the iTMS, and while it's understandably simple to brush this all off as a fanboy's fantasy, Denon's no stranger to stuffing unusual extras in uncommon places.

[Via AVSForum]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/13/futuristic-denon-blu-ray-player-receiver-concept/#comments

7/13/2007 12:59:00 PM

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Fujifilm has been lending a helping hand in the realm of investigative photography for quite some time, and the firm's latest picks up where the S3 Pro UVIR and IS-1 left off. Featuring Fujifilm's Super CCD Pro and Real Photo Processor Pro technology to see light from the ultraviolet, visible, and infrared portions of the spectrum, this 12.3-megapixel gem also sports face detection, password protected lockouts, optional "rubber body armor," CF / Microdrive slots, RAW support, and a live image preview LCD to boot. Moreover, it's fully compatible with Nikon F mount lenses and iTTL flash systems, which should ease the burden of switching costs if you've already sunk way too much into Nikon accessories. No word just yet on how much coinage this will demand, but look for it to land in precincts (okay, store shelves too) next month.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/13/fujifilms-is-pro-dslr-lends-a-hand-in-forensics/#comments

7/13/2007 12:34:00 PM

Filed under: Features, Interviews

We got a rare chance to sit down and talk shop with recently-named Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. President Kaz Hirai, and his US successor, Jack Tretton. These two had a lot to say, and we were more than happy to let them talk about where the PS3's going in terms of hardware, software, and services, why Sony's E3 presence this year is so radically different than last year, even a little bit about how things have been at PlayStation HQ post-Kutaragi -- check it out!

So out of all the three press conferences we've been writing up, we're giving each one a grade based on a new highly scientific Mega Man ranking system. Sony is our last one, but chronologically so we haven't gotten there yet. But this press conference had a much different tone then let's say last year's E3 press conference. How much did you guys look at last year's, how should we say, performance, and decide that you needed to do something different? What kind of decision making process was that?

Jack: Well obviously I was not as intimately involved in planning last year's press conference as I was in this one, but it's funny now that you look at that perspective and you see some of the other press conferences and how people are conducting themselves. I think companies are very proud of their success and they want to tell everybody how successful you are. But what you realize is that everybody already knows that and no one really cares. They want to know how you are going to be successful going forward. And so we've certainly taken our fair share of heat about, you know, the ow, the performance of PlayStation 3 in the first six to eight months, and I guess we wanted to focus our message on really telling you why PlayStation 3 is going to be successful going forward.

And its all about content, its about games, and I think going through that experience, you know, the light bulb goes off, and you go oh, wait a minute, its really all about the content and what we're going to do going forward to keep our platforms relevant. Its not about what we did 10 years ago, its not about how many units we've sold here or there. So clearly I think for points of reference and perspective we wanted to point some things out that we really wanted that press conference geared towards why people are going to want to buy games and buy our platforms and that was kind of the theme and the central message. I give Dave [Karraker, Senior Director, Corporate Communications, SCEA] a lot of credit for building off of that theme and coordinating tremendous amounts of presentations and content through the whole thing. But hopefully we've stayed on message and we've gotten the point across.

So why no word about rumble?

Jack: Well, I guess at this point the SIXAXIS controller is something that we're comfortable with and we've certainly settled our differences with Immersion. Is it something that can happen down the road? Absolutely. But the bottom line is we haven't made that decision and we didn't have anything to announce or introduce. Will we down the road? Possibly, but it's unbeknownst to me if we have a rumble controller coming out.

Oh I think you'd know before anyone!

[laughter] Well, you'd be surprised! It's a big company...

Continue reading Engadget & Joystiq interview: Kaz Hirai and Jack Tretton, Presidents, Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc., and America

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/13/engadget-and-joystiq-interview-kaz-hirai-and-jack-tretton-presid/#comments

7/13/2007 12:16:00 PM

Filed under: Gaming

It looks like those wanting to get in on that $100 price cut for the 60GB PS3 had better act fast, as it seems that it's going to be a case of once they're gone they're gone. That's according to SCEE President David Reeves, who told GamesIndustry.biz that Sony would no longer be offering the 60GB PS3 in the US once the existing stock runs out -- something he expects to happen "by the end of July." What's more, Sony also revealed that the 60GB PS3 would not be getting a price cut in Europe, but would be getting a new bundle with two games and two controllers for no added cost -- still no word on an 80GB PS3 for Europe though.

Read - GamesIndustry.biz, "No more 60GB PlayStation 3 in US after July, says Reeves"
Read - BBC News, "No price cut for Europe"

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/13/60gb-ps3-disappearing-soon-no-price-cut-for-europe/#comments

7/13/2007 11:55:00 AM

Filed under: Laptops

Granted, we've seen our fair share of Apple products getting a bit hot under the collar, and while the PowerBook AC adapters never were truly regarded as top-notch pieces of equipment, it seems that this particular one chose the wrong guy to get all sparked up on. Justin Stangel, a head writer / producer for the Late Show with David Letterman, was presumably writing up the night's monologue when he was uncomfortably faced with a sparking AC adapter. As any true professional would do, he actually filmed the volatile device getting its spark (and smoke) on rather than evacuating the area, so be sure and click on through to see what the fuss is all about.

Continue reading Letterman's head writer faces sparking, smoking PowerBook adapter

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/13/lettermans-head-writer-faces-sparking-smoking-powerbook-adapte/#comments

7/13/2007 11:35:00 AM

Filed under: Gaming

When we hit up a press event, we're looking for two things (besides free refreshments): unannounced products and unreleased devices that we can get you some hands-on shots of. Well save for the snazzy MX Air that we picked up from Logitech, last night's Digital Life preview in New York was a total bust -- nothing but Foleos and non-working robots as far as the eye could see -- so instead of schmoozing with our colleagues or getting our egos stroked by publicity-happy vendors, we watched uncoordinated journalists attempt to master the controls of HotSeat Chassis' latest immersive simulators. While the company also makes a full line of driving rigs, the demo machines were both of the flying variety: the $6,000 Combat Sim and $7,000+ Heli Sim. The former contraption features two monitors and traditional "dogfight" controls that work with most any software, while the latter offers just a single control stick to help you live out those Airwolf fantasies. If you're interested in checking out gaming equipment that costs more than a used car (and even some new ones), hit the gallery below...

Gallery: HotSeat Chassis' plane and helicopter flight simulators

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/13/hotseat-chassis-plane-and-helicopter-flight-simulators/#comments

7/13/2007 11:10:00 AM

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Transportation

Concocting zany printers seems to be all the rage these days, and if the sugar, 3D, and film renditions weren't sophisticated enough for you, this creation is giving new meaning to taking your word to the street. In a DIY endeavor that eerily resembles one we recall from years back, the StreetWriter project stuffs a computer-controlled industrial spray painting unit into an extended-body cargo van, where it can then roll up to unsuspecting sections of pavement and drop all sorts of textual delight. Granted, the prints can really only be deciphered from tall buildings or low-flying crafts, but we're sure it needs all eight of those cylinders to skedaddle if caught printing on public property. No word on how long this bad boy's been rolling about, but be sure and click through to get a closeup of the innards.

[Via CNET]

Continue reading Van-sized StreetWriter prints messages, burns rubber

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/13/van-sized-streetwriter-prints-messages-burns-rubber/#comments

7/13/2007 10:46:00 AM

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

While it might not quite match the robot invasion of the 2005 World Expo in Aichi, Japan, it looks like Zaragoza, Spain's 2008 World Expo won't be lacking for displays of technology either, with an MIT-designed "digital water pavilion" greeting visitors at the entrance. While its practicality may be in question, the pavilion certainly looks to be impressive enough, boasting computer-controlled walls of water that can display scrolling text or images, or automatically form a doorway when it detects a person approaching. To manage that feat, the MIT engineers employed a series solenoid valves that can be opened and closed at high frequency, effectively working, as MIT describes it, "like an inkjet printer on a large scale." It's also apparently not as wasteful as it seems at first glance, relying entirely on recycled water, with the water also eliminating the need for air conditioning.

[Via PhysOrg]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/13/zaragoza-world-expo-to-feature-mit-designed-digital-water-wall/#comments

7/13/2007 10:23:00 AM

Filed under: Robots

Throwing its fins into the proverbial pool with various water-bourne robots such as the Strider, the CMU Water Runner, and whatever this creep is called, is the new STRIDE -- soon to be the aforementioned Strider's enemy number one. The name stands for Surface Tension Robotic Insect Dynamic Explorer, and the minuscule bot works by mimicking the strider insect and skirting along the surface of the water using hydrophobic wire legs coated in Teflon. Researchers discovered that the 1-gram bot could carry a 9.3-gram payload without breaking the surface by utilizing a sculling motion for movement. The robot is 10-15 times slower than the actual insect and 10 times larger, but the engineers hope to lower the bot's size and increase it's speed by downsizing its build, along with expanding its capabilities by harnessing technologies such as sensors, wireless communication, and autonomous control.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/13/water-skimming-robot-will-probably-attack-you/#comments

7/13/2007 10:03:00 AM

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Internet radio -- a market which seems to be heating up lately -- is getting another entry to the game in Freecom's latest device. The company has just announced its MusicPal WiFi radio, which can access up to 5,000 pre-programmed internet stations (or you can add your own), stream your MP3s and WAVs from your PC or network, and can be connected to your home stereo when it's time to really party. The petite, stylish device runs on the Linux 2.6 kernel, has 802.11b/g and wired 10/100 RJ45 connectivity, and sports a 128x64 pixel monochrome LCD display. The MusicPal goes on sale in August for €129, although the company is taking pre-orders right now. Too bad royalties are poised to kill the internet radio star this Sunday.

[Thanks, Jeroen S]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/13/freecoms-musicpal-wifi-radio-now-on-pre-order/#comments

7/13/2007 9:33:00 AM

Filed under: Networking

While we've seen all sorts of blazing feats over fiber here lately, it's not often that such wide open bandwidth gets piped directly to a home, but a 75-year old Swede recently changed all that when she had a 40Gbps connection installed in her domicile. 'Course, this fine dame is the mum of Swedish internet legend Peter Löthberg, and she's hoping to somehow "persuade internet operators to invest in faster connections." The trick behind the setup is a "new modulation technique which allows data to be transferred directly between two routers up to 2,000-kilometers apart with no intermediary transponders," and just in case you're wondering, she can download a full high-definition DVD in a painstaking two seconds.

[Via Slashdot, image courtesy of TheRedWoodMotel]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/13/40gbps-internet-connection-installed-in-swedes-home/#comments

7/13/2007 9:01:00 AM

Filed under: Handhelds, Laptops

We had a hunch that a once over just wasn't enough time with Asus' oh-so-intriguing Eee PC 701, so we're quite pleased that the folks over at NotebookReview were able to get a little alone time with the mini-laptop and give us some food for thought. As expected, this decently spec'd (for the price, of course) machine booted into an Asus-customized flavor of Linux "in about ten seconds flat," while the entire shutdown procedure took about half of that. Once inside, they seemed quite impressed with the amount of built-in applications and responsiveness, and noted that enough software was included to "definitely serve all of your basic needs." Of course, the understandably scrunched keyboard "took some getting used to," and although the display wasn't jaw-dropping, it served the purpose. Best of all, they were able to snag quite a few shots of the wee device, so be sure and give their writeup a look if you could potentially see this thing in your future.

[Thanks, Patrick L.]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/13/asus-diminutive-eee-pc-701-gets-previewed/#comments

7/13/2007 8:02:00 AM

Filed under: Laptops

Fujitsu's got a new bag, baby, and it's called the LifeBook A3130. The business-centric, Vista-ready, 15.4-inch laptop features a 2GHz AMD Turion processor, 2GB of RAM, a 120GB HDD, an ATI Radeon Xpress 1150 graphics card with 256MB of RAM, and a DVD-RW optical drive. With Bluetooth, 802.11a/b/g, five USB ports, and a bitchin' fingerprint reader / scroll button, you'll be the toast of the boardroom, possibly. The zippy little number also includes a spill-resistant keyboard and a screaming-fast V.90 56K modem. Available right now for the bargain price of $1149.

[Via PCLaunches]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/13/fujitsus-funky-new-lifebook-a3130/#comments

7/13/2007 6:54:00 AM

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Handhelds

Feel that? That's the unexpected stir of nostalgia welling inside your dorktic-loin. Rest easy, you're not alone. In fact, that picture aroused a deeply seeded HP fanboi-ism long obscured by thick slabs of drab computing plastic and opaque printer ink. The 35s marks the 35th anniversary of the industry defining HP-35 pocket scientific calculator (and death of the sliderule) -- a first to offer basic trig and exponential functions. While HP preserved the original's reverse Polish notation, gone is the single-line of red LEDs which illuminated the childhood wonder of so many budding engineers. The new 35s also introduces an algebraic entry mode for those who find RPN entry just a bit too, well, reversed. Of course, it's fully modern with 800 storage registers, 100 built-in functions, and a large 2-line alpha numeric display with adjustable contrast. Better yet, the 35s will only set you back $60 compared to the $395 it cost back in 1972 -- that's a lot more 8-tracks for your swank ~~Ford~~ Mercury Capri, eh Pops?

Read -- HP-35 anniversary video
Read -- HP 35s

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/13/hp-celebrates-35th-anniversary-of-hp-35-launches-35s-calculator/#comments

7/13/2007 5:39:00 AM

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio, Portable Video

If you can't wait for the eventual Apple update, then by all means have at it weekend hackers: custom iPhone ringtones can now be yours. Disparate hacks have been cobbled together into a step-by-step guide over at the appropriately named hacktheiphone site. The instructions make use of both the iPhoneInterface and jailbreak hacks which opened up full access to the iPhone's UI and filesystem. Unfortunately, the former only works on the Intel-based Macs at the moment. For those of you a bit wary of screwing the $600 pooch somewhere along the 23 steps, take heed: "everyone [they] know has been able to restore their iPhone fully by using iTunes." So go ahead, we double-dog dare ya. Just report back in the comments how it went, mkay?

[Thanks, HaJo and Richard]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/13/custom-iphone-ringtone-hacking-instructions-prepped-for-noobs/#comments

7/13/2007 4:39:00 AM

Filed under: Cellphones

In 2005, Greek authorities discovered a plot hatched and executed by unknown sources which allowed the tapping of wireless phones on the Vodaphone network belonging to the country's Prime Minister and other top officials, making it one of the furthest reaching covert infiltrations of a government in history. A recent report from IEEE Spectrum shows that the tap was made possible by a 6,500 line piece of code called a rootkit, the first-ever to be embedded in a phone switch's OS. The complex hack took advantage of aging phone systems by disabling transaction logs on calls and allowing call monitoring on four switches within the teleco's computers, thus sending the call to another phone for monitoring (similar to a legal wiretap). The spies covered their tracks by creating patches on the system which routed the calls around logging software which would have alerted admins, and were only discovered when they tried to update their software. The case clearly exposes holes in call security amongst providers (due largely in part to outdated systems), and suggests the possibility that this kind of thing could easily happen again... to you!

[Via textually]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/13/rootkit-hack-taps-greek-prime-ministers-phone/#comments

7/13/2007 3:27:00 AM

Filed under: Wearables

Chalk another one up to the rumor mill, as it looks like the leaked PowerPoint slide we saw just last month was indeed referring to an actual product. Thanks to an FCC filing, we now know that Timex is actually cranking out a Made for iPod timepiece in its Ironman series. The i-Control isn't the most handsome of watches, but it will be available in a water-resistant casing, sport Indiglo backlighting, and play nice with your dock connecting iPod. According to the documentation, users will clip an included RF transmitter into their Pod, which will allow the watch to control the volume, track, and play / pause function so long as the it's within "about ten feet" of your wrist. Of course, it still sports the same alarm, chrono, recall, and interval timer modes as the rest of its siblings, but unfortunately, it doesn't look like you'll see any scrolling track tags on this one. As expected, there's no word on price just yet, but click on through for a more detailed shot of it all sprawled out.

Continue reading Timex's iPod-controlling i-Control watch hits the FCC

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/13/timexs-ipod-controlling-i-control-watch-hits-the-fcc/#comments

7/13/2007 2:32:00 AM

Filed under: Portable Audio, Wearables

We haven't seen too many portable audio devices out of Yamaha (well, unless you count scooters), but the company's new BODiBEAT looks like it could be a big hit with runners. The arm-mounted DAP contains an accelerometer that links to the earphone-mounted pulse monitor, enabling the BODiBEAT to play tracks that match your running rhythm, switching songs as you speed up and slow down. I down. It doesn't look the like unit actually changes the speed of your music, so Yamaha has thoughtfully included a range of preloaded beat loops that remix themselves at every tempo to cover any gaps. Good thing, too, since the puny 512MB of memory means you'll be out of music by the end of the block. Expect to see the BODiBEAT popping up at the gym later this summer for an astronomical $299.

[Via jkOnTheRun]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/13/yamahas-bodibeat-plays-music-in-time-to-your-workout/#comments

7/13/2007 1:25:00 AM

Filed under: Networking

Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins' internet ordeal is over, and he has detailed all the painful, laborious, and clearly unnecessary steps needed to put yourself into Cashville with AT&T's cheap-o DSL service over on his website. In the end, the poor guy spoke with what appears to be hundreds of the company's employees, had to "pay" $79.99 for a router (although they offer a mail-in rebate reimbursement), and forked over $50 for AT&T's "activation fee", yet still technically doesn't have service. Regardless, when he's paying a measly ~~$10~~ $18 a month for his phone and DSL service, and you're still Go-Go dancing on weekends just to cover your voicemail charge, who will really have the last laugh? Hit the read link for all the painful details....

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/13/mans-quest-for-10-atandt-dsl-ends-in-success-kind-of/#comments

7/13/2007 12:31:00 AM

Filed under: Desktops

Unlike some companies we've seen, it appears that Commodore Gaming is actually keeping its word, as the company has just now released the final details on its lineup of flashy US-bound gaming rigs. The Cg, Cgs, Cgx, and Cxx machines progress gradually from least extreme to highly 1337, and all four can be customized to suit your every fantasy. To give you an idea of what's on tap (if you've got the coin), the Cxx packs a 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6800 processor, twin 500GB 7,200RPM hard drives in a RAID 0 array, 2GB of Corsair RAM, DVD-RW optical drive, an 850-watt power supply, Creative's Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer sound card, Windows Vista, and dual 768MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Ultra GPUs to boot. As far as pricing goes, word on the street is that the base system will start out around $1,700, but we'll know for sure when these come stateside in Q3.

[Via CNET]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/commodore-unveils-lineup-of-us-bound-gaming-desktops/#comments

7/13/2007 12:03:00 AM

Filed under: Portable Audio

Style-maven Bang & Olufsen has introduced a new DAP into the mix, called the Beosound 6. Breaking from typical B&O design convention -- which can often be a little absurd (see the Beosound 2 and 3) -- the Beosound 6 is a strikingly simple design; a silver, candy-bar shaped audio player with stripped-down controls and a thin LCD display. Specs are light at the moment, but it looks like standard MP3 / WMA playback, 4GB of flash memory (jettisoning the company's previous SD storage scheme), a 65K color LCD screen, and USB connectivity. The player will also be accompanied by a leather case and the company's A8 earphones, and will retail for around £400 ($812 US).

[Thanks, Casper]

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7/12/2007 11:12:00 PM

Filed under: Digital Cameras, HDTV

JVC hasn't shown off any of its fancy Everio camcorders in quite awhile, but it's making a noticeable return with the HDD / SDHC-compatible GZ-HD3. This handheld camcorder does it up right with a built-in 60GB hard drive, MPEG-2 HD recording (though not Full HD, reportedly), and the ability to capture onto SD / SDHC flash cards. Unfortunately, not a whole lot of details beyond that are readily available, but while you wait patiently for a release date and price, feel free to click on for a few more glamor shots.

Continue reading JVC showcases HD Everio GZ-HD3 HDD / SDHC camcorder

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7/12/2007 10:25:00 PM

Filed under: Peripherals

If there's such a thing as a Logitech fanboy, you can count us among their legions, as we've been more than pleased with almost all of the products (mice, webcams, surround sound speakers, wireless gamepads) that we've ever purchased from the peripherals giant. And we must say, the new MX Air certainly lives up to this enviable reputation. From good hand feel to instinctive reactions in 3D space to the sweet virtual scrollwheel (it even makes a freakin' accelerating and decelerating clicking sound, just like the MX Revolution!), the latest member of the MX family is a pleasure to work with all around, and also features the no-brainer plug-and-play setup that we've come to expect from these devices. We'll have a more detailed hands-on a little later, but for right now you can check out our unboxing pics in the gallery below...

Gallery: Unboxing the Logitech MX Air

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7/12/2007 9:38:00 PM

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

After patiently wait for what felt like ages to finally have the Cowon D2 on American soil, here's a tidbit sure to make you early adopters a bit disgruntled. According to a blurb at GenerationMerationMP3, Cowon is planning to release an 8GB and 16GB rendition of its diminutive media player, and additionally, it will reportedly sport a built-in SDHC slot for cramming even more media onboard. In other news, the iAudio X7 is slated to land sometime in September, and will be available in both 40GB and 80GB flavors, but the release of the iAudio X5 is a bit shaky considering that production on the device has "been stopped" for the time being. Per usual, we aren't exactly sold on the legitimacy of these reports, but you won't catch us complaining if a roomier D2 finds its way stateside anytime soon.

[Via PlayerBites, thanks Gavin]

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7/12/2007 8:39:00 PM

Filed under: Gaming

You know, we could understand a few months of Wii shortages, and perhaps we'd let Nintendo slip by the seven month mark with a mild slap on the wrist, but this recent announcement of shortages through the 2007 holidays is just plain annoying. "There is no guarantee that we are not going to have 'out-of-stocks' this holiday season," says George Harrison, senior V.P of marketing for Nintendo of America. "If you see one, buy it. Don't assume that you can come back later and find one." It's not like Nintendo doesn't have the time, cash or know-how to ramp up production. Sure, we don't know all the ins and outs of supply chain management, but it sounds more like Nintendo is enjoying its "can't keep 'em on the shelves" status a bit too much to seriously make an attempt at meeting demand.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/nintendo-planning-to-milk-its-wii-shortage-through-the-holidays/#comments

7/12/2007 7:59:00 PM

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

In addition to patching various security holes, it looks like Apple added "Export to iPhone" and "Export to iPhone (Cellular)" presets to Quicktime 7.2 -- making it easy to spit out .m4v or .3gp files optimized for the iPhone's screen and data delivery options. This isn't a huge surprise, since Quicktime gained Apple TV and video iPod presets shortly after those products were released, but at least now compressing your videos to the postage stamp sizes required for them to stream over EDGE is just a click away.

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7/12/2007 7:21:00 PM

Filed under: Cellphones

As a staff member here at Engadget can attest, you never know when someone may want your mobile a hair more than you, so we've no qualms with a cellphone that packs its very own form of weaponry to fend off thieves. Of course, this completely conceptual device is highly unlikely to hit production (at least in first-world nations), but there's still something about a transforming mobile that whips out a set of chainguns and walks on its own that would convince us to pick one up. Intrigued? It gets better -- hit the read link to see this monster in action.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/transformers-phone-sports-lethal-theft-deterrent-system/#comments

7/12/2007 6:51:00 PM

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Nearly 11 months ago to the day, Europe witnessed its very first HD DVD release, and while the battle over format supremacy has been heated and rarely slanted to one corner here in the US, apparently things are vastly different across the pond. According to the (biased?) information spat out by the European HD DVD Promotional Group, "HD DVD players have outsold Blu-ray players by a three-to-one margin in Europe's main markets so far this year," and moreover, it claimed to hold a staggering "74-percent" of the market share in Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland for standalone players. So, for those residing in the aforementioned lands, are things really this skewed, or does a certain lobbyist group have their numbers all fuzzed up?

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7/12/2007 6:21:00 PM

Filed under: Cellphones

Though the original PEBL didn't get quite the love Motorola may have liked (Maria Sharapova special edition notwithstanding), it seems they're looking to give it at least one more go with the upcoming U9 model. Presumably designed to slot in alongside the RAZR 2 V8 / V9 models, Phone Scoop reports that the U9 will be ROKR branded, indicating a strong music tie-in. Other details are sketchy, though there's speculation that the "9" designation in the model number indicates that 3G is in the cards; for Motorola's sake, we hope that's true.

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http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/the-pebl-lives-motorola-to-add-rokr-u9/#comments

7/12/2007 5:51:00 PM

Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, Wireless

We first heard of Philip's BTM-630 Bluetooth music system when it was announced alongside a number of other Bluetooth-equipped systems last month, but it looks like it's just now passed through the FCC's all-important hands, making it one step closer to landing in yours. In case you missed it, this one not only packs an iPod dock, but a built-in CD burner and Bluetooth compatibility to let grab songs from any Bluetooth-equipped cellphone or make some hands-free calls. Those looking for some slightly less glamorous shots of the device can get their fix after the break, while the truly curious can hit up the link below for some shots of the system's innards, along with the complete users manual (all courtesy of our friends at the FCC).

Continue reading Philips BTM-630 Bluetooth music system hits the FCC

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7/12/2007 5:21:00 PM

Filed under: Displays

Olympus is planning on taking head-mounted displays out of the "giant nerd" category and into the "scary dystopian future" realm with a new project to develop a completely wireless system that can also double as eyeglasses. While most other HMDs we've seen feature a cable snaking across your body to an external power pack, Olympus has expanded on its previous efforts (pictured) and is already prototyping a 3-ounce unit with an internal power source powering two side-mounted 110,000-pixel displays that project email onto the lenses. Olympus is optimistically hoping to bring the tech to market in 2012 -- looks like wannabe Terminators are going to be lugging those battery packs around for a while yet.

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7/12/2007 4:51:00 PM

Filed under: Gaming

It looks like we could soon be in for a good old fashioned price war, with talk of yet another PS3 price cut already spreading just days after the last one became official. What's more, this latest rumor appears to be based on more than just idle speculation, coming instead from Capcom's Capcom Chief Financial Officer Kazuhiko Abe, who told Reuters that the price "is likely to be cut again towards the end of the year," adding that he expects the PS3's installed base to "grow gradually." While there's no indication of just how big a price cut it'd be, any further drop would certainly put a crimp in Microsoft's rumored plans for a significant price cut of its own, though we doubt too many other people will be complaining.

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7/12/2007 4:21:00 PM

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio, Portable Video

Not really sure how much mileage Apple is going to get out of this patent, with Zune and pretty much everybody else already swapping songs and such wirelessly, but we'll humor 'em all the same. A September 1st, 2006 filing describes methods "for delivery of data to a portable electronic device from another electronic device." For sake of argument, we'll assume they're talking iPhones and iPods here. Applications are pretty broad, ranging from various protected and unprotected media files, to news subscriptions and shopping lists, and syncing can be done automatically and manually. In a definite step above the level of sharing offered by the Zune, subscription files can be shared in an unlimited manner with other subscription users -- though of course that would all be contingent on Apple ever offering a subscription-based iTunes to its users.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/apple-patents-method-for-iphones-and-ipods-to-chat-wirelessly/#comments

7/12/2007 3:51:00 PM

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Media PCs

Word on the street is that Fujitsu-Siemens is going to introduce its first entry into the not-so-crowded Windows Home Server market under the Scaleo brand at this year's IFA conference in late August. The Scaleo Home Server will feature headless operation under Vista Home Server, a two disk 500GB SATA RAID array, gigabit Ethernet, and Energy Star 4.0-compliant energy usage of just 50W. Price estimates are ranging from €500 ($690) to €700 ($965), and availability is hazily pegged at "by the end of the year" -- projections that match the awesome blurriness of this render.

[Via We Got Served]

[Thanks, tip-star]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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